Syllabus for ENG522: Writing in Nonacademic Settings
Instructor: Susan M. Katz
Office: T131D
Telephone: 515-4117
E-mail address: Susan_Katz@ncsu.edu
Class meeting time/room: Mondays 6:00-7:15 p.m./TG117
Office hours: Mondays 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. and by appointment
Course prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this course beyond graduate standing in any Department of
English graduate program.
Course Overview
This course will have two components: an academic component and an experiential
component. For the academic component, students will read articles relevant to writing in
nonacademic settings from selected journals and anthologies, respond to questions
pertaining to those readings on an electronic discussion board, and meet as a group once
per week to discuss the issues reflected in the articles and relate those readings to their
own nonacademic experiences. For the experiential component (practicum), students will
work approximately eight hours per week (at least 120 hours total) within an organization
relevant to their interests and areas of expertise. They will complete several short
assignments as well as a project that connects their reading to the experiential component.
Student Learning Outcomes
Students completing the requirements for this section of ENG 522 will be able to
 recognize the problems and practices of writers and writing in a variety of
nonacademic settings
 identify issues in writing in nonacademic settings
 critically analyze published accounts of workplace writing
 demonstrate an understanding of the differences between academic and
nonacademic writing
 describe personal workplace experience and skills
 identify personal strengths
Required Texts
Rath, Tom. Strengths Finder 2.0 New York: Gallup Press, 2007. $24.95
All other readings will be available electronically from the D. H. Hill library.
Course Organization and Scope
The course will be organized around the following issues in nonacademic writing.
I. Transitioning from academic to nonacademic settings (5 weeks)
a. Writing for a living
b. Writing for different audiences
c. Workplace review vs. academic review
d. Identifying personal strengths
e. Using career resources
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II. Writing with others (5 weeks)
a. Developing/sharing power and authority
b. Establishing personal identity
c. Writing collaboratively
d. Editing
e. Ghost writing
III. Workplace culture (2 weeks)
a. Understanding communities of practice
b. Connecting text and context
Tentative Schedule of Reading Assignments
Writing for a living
Brandt, D. (2005). “Writing for a Living: Literacy
and the Knowledge Economy.” Written
Communication, 22, pp. 166-67.
Karlsson, A. (2009). “Positioned by Reading and
Writing: Literacy Practices, Roles, and Genres in
Common Occupations.” Written Communication,
26, pp. 53-76.
Preparing for work
Rogers, P.S., & Lee-Wong, S. M. (2003).
“Reconceptualizing Politeness to Accommodate
Dynamic Tensions in Subordinate-to-Superior
Reporting.” Journal of Business and Technical
Communication, 17, pp. 379-412.
Schneider, B., & Andre, J. (2005). “University
Preparation for Workplace Writing: An
Exploratory Study of the Perceptions of Students
in Three Disciplines.” Journal of Business
Communication, 42, pp. 195 - 218.
Writing for different
Doheny-Farina, S. (1998). “A Case Study of One
audiences
Adult Writing in Academic and Nonacademic
Discourse Communicities.” In Worlds of Writing:
Teaching and Learning in Discourse
Communities of Work. Ed. Carolyn B. Matalene.
New York: Random House, pp. 17-42.
Workplace review vs.
academic review
Identifying personal
strengths
Using career resources
Developing/sharing power
Paretti, M. C. (2006). “Audience Awareness:
Leveraging Problem-Based Learning to Teach
Workplace Communication Practices.” IEEE
Transactions on Professional Communication, 49,
pp. 189-198
Katz, S. (1998). The Dynamics of Writing Review,
Ch. 3 & 4. Ablex: Stamford, CT.
Rath, T. (2007). Strengths Finder 2.0 New
York: Gallup Press
Various web sites as assigned
Katz, S. (1998). The Dynamics of Writing Review,
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and authority
Establishing personal
identity
Writing collaboratively
Editing
Ghost writing
Ch. 5. Ablex: Stamford, CT.
Schneider, B. (2007). “Power as Interactional
Accomplishment: An Ethnomethodological
Perspective on the Regulation of Communicative
Practice in Organizations.” In Communicative
Practices in Workplaces and the Professions:
Cultural Perspectives on the Regulation of
Discourse and Organizations. Ed. Mark Zachry
and Charlotte Thralls. Amityville, NY: Baywood.
181-99.
Ketter, J., & Hunter, J. (2003). “Creating a Writer’s
Identify on the Boundaries of Two Communities
of Practice.” In Writing Selves, Writing Societies:
Research from Activity Perspectives. Ed. Charles
Bazerman and David R. Russell. Fort Collins,
Colorado: The WAC Clearinghouse and Mind,
Culture, and Activity.
MacKinnon, J. (1993). “Becoming a Rhetor:
Developing Writing Ability in a Mature, WritingIntensive Organization.” Writing in the
Workplace: New Research Perspectives. Ed.
Rachel Spilka. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP.
41-55.
Palmeri, J. (2004). “When Discourses Collide: A
Case Study of Interprofessional Collaborative
Writing in a Medically Oriented Law Firm.”
Journal of Business Communication, 41, pp. 3765.
Noel, S. & Robert, J. (2004). “Empirical Study on
Collaborative Writing: What Do Co-authors Do,
Use, and Like?” Computer Supported
Cooperative Work, 13, pp.63-89.
Bisaillon, J. (2007). “Professional Editing
Strategies Used by Six Editors.” Written
Communication, 24, pp. 295-322.
Thompson, I. K., & Rothschild, J. M. (1995).
“Stories of Three Editors: A Qualitative Study of
Editing in the Workplace.” Journal of Business
and Technical Communication, 9, pp. 139-169.
Brandt, D. (2007). “’Who’s the President?’:
Ghostwriting and Shifting Values in Literacy.”
College English, 69, pp. 549-571.
Riley, L. A., & Brown, S. C. (1996). “Crafting a
Public Image: An Empirical Study of the Ethics
of Ghostwriting.” Journal of Business Ethics, 15,
pp. 711-720.
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Understanding communities
of practice
Angouri, J. & Harwood, N. (2008). “This Is Too
Formal for Us. . .: A Case Study of Variation in
the Written Products of a Multinational
Consortium.” Journal of Business and Technical
Communication, 22, pp. 38-64.
Odell, Lee. “Beyond the Text: Relations between
Writing and Social Context.” Writing in
Nonacademic Settings. Ed. Lee Odell and Dixie
Goswami. New York: Guilford, 1985. 249-80.
Homework Assignments
Discussion Board: Students will post a response to the questions relevant to the week’s
reading assignments on the discussion board by Sunday of each week. Eight times during
the course of the semester, students will post an additional response by noon on the day
of class. This second posting will be in response to a comment or question posted by a
classmate.
Personal Strengths Assessment: Students will read the first section of Strengths Finder
2.0 (pages 1-31) and go online to complete the assessment that goes along with the book.
After completing the online assessment, each student will receive a report that identifies
his or her five greatest strengths. Students will download and review the assessment
report. Each student will choose two "ideas for action" from the assessment for each of
his or her top strengths and explain (in writing) how he or she might implement those
ideas in the job search or in an interview.
Career Research: Each student will conduct research on careers and career opportunities
using an online resource such as the following (to be assigned) and report to the class.
 Career Builder
 Net Temps
 Employment Security Commission of North Carolina
 Quintessential Careers
 The Riley Guide
 Indeed
 Simply Hired
 Linkup
 Monster
 North Carolina State Job Vacancies
 Making the Difference
 USA.gov
Experiential Component: I will help each student secure a position within a legitimate
organization such as a small business, major corporation, or nonprofit organization where
they will work for 8-10 hours per week (at least 120 hours total). It is unlikely that this
will be a paid position, but the students will gain valuable experience that can contribute
to their education and provide them with material to improve their credentials when they
seek employment after graduation.
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Experience Summary: You will write an eight- to ten-page (single-spaced) research
paper about your experience working in a nonacademic setting. The paper will include
information about the organization as well as about the tasks you have accomplished and
what you have learned. You may include all or some of the following topics, and you
may add other relevant information. This list is merely a suggestion to get you started
thinking about your experience.
Description of the organization
• mission
• history
• structure
• audiences (clients, customers, internal & external)
• organizational culture
• product(s)/service(s)
• future plans/direction of the organization
Personal experience
• your role
• lessons learned
• deficiencies
• work accomplished
• value added to the organization
• advantages/disadvantages
Relevance to your future plans
• Would you want to work in this type of organization?
• What have you learned that would help you find a job in this are?
• How has this internship affected your plans for the future?
Course Grading
Students are not allowed to take this course for "credit only." Refer to the Registration
and Records calendar for deadlines related to grading. For more details, refer to
http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/pol_reg/REG205.00.5.php
Grading Method
Final grades will be based on student work in approximately the following proportions:
Class participation
Discussion board participation
Personal strengths assessment
Career research presentation
Experience Summary
Final exam
Employer evaluation
10%
10%
10%
10%
30%
10%
20%
Grading Scale
A+
=
97.0-100%
5
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
92.0-96.9%
89.0-91.9%
86.0-88.9%
82.0-85.9%
79.0-81.9 %
76.0-78.9%
72.0-75.9%
69.0-71.9%
66.0-68.9%
62.0-65.9%
59.0-61.9%
< 59.0%
Late Work Policy
Weekly reading and discussion board assignments must be completed prior to class. The
final project will be due on the last day of classes (Friday, April 27th). A penalty of onethird of a letter grade will be imposed for each day the final project is late.
Attendance Policy
Attendance is essential, both in class and at the assigned workplace. As a seminar, this
course is interactive, which means you must be there to interact. The quality and quantity
of your participation will be part of your grade, as described above. If you must be absent
for reasons beyond your control, please let me know in advance (if at all possible) and in
writing (i.e., don't trust my memory). It is the student’s responsibility to obtain
assignments and information for any missed classes. For NCSU attendance regulations,
refer to the academic policy and regulations website at:
http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/courses_undergrad/REG02.20.3.php
Incomplete Grades
Incomplete as a course grade will be awarded only for work not completed during the
course due to conditions deemed by the instructor to be beyond the reasonable control of
the student. If an extended deadline is not authorized by the Graduate School, an
unfinished incomplete grade will automatically change to an F after either (a) the end of
the next regular semester in which the student is enrolled (not including summer
sessions) or (b) by the end of 12 months if the student is not enrolled, whichever is
shorter. Incompletes that change to F will count as an attempted course on transcripts.
The burden of fulfilling an incomplete grade is the responsibility of the student. The
University policy on incomplete grades is located at
http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/grades_undergrad/REG02.50.3.php
Additional information relative to incomplete grades for graduate students can be found
in the Graduate Administrative Handbook in Section 3.18.F at:
http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/grad_publicns/handbook/.
Academic Integrity Policy
Every community has standards of behavior that are necessary for it to fulfill its aims. In
the academic community, the relationships between texts must be controlled and revealed
in particular ways so that readers may make appropriate judgments about the sufficiency
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of information, the credibility of arguments, and the capabilities of the author. These
judgments are central to the academic enterprise. All students are expected to adhere to a strict honor code: "I have neither given nor
received unauthorized aid on this assignment." In effect, this means that all work in the
course should be original. Further, any material that you paraphrase or quote must be
cited according to an accepted style format (e.g. APA, Chicago, MLA). If you would like
an explanation of the actions that constitute plagiarism, please review the student code of
conduct
(http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/student_services/student_discipline/POL11.35.1.php). See
also the University’s Academic Integrity website
(http://www.ncsu.edu/student_affairs/osc/AIpage/acaintegrity.html).
Please raise questions in class or in conference if you have any doubts about appropriate
attributions of sources or authorship in your own work. I will treat any violations of
academic integrity in accordance with university policy.
Accommodation for disabilities
Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. In
order to take advantage of available accommodations, students must register with
Disability Services for Students at 1900 Student Health Center, Campus box 7509, 5157653, http://ncsu.edu/dso.
For more information on NC State’s policy on working with students with disabilities,
please see the Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Regulation
(REG02.20.1)
(http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/courses_undergrad/REG02.20.1.php).
Class Evaluations
Online class evaluations will be available for students to complete during the last two
weeks of class. Students will receive an email message directing them to a website where
they can login using their Unity ID and complete evaluations. All evaluations are
confidential; instructors will never know how any one student responded to any question,
and students will never know the ratings for any particular instructors.
Evaluation website: https://classeval.ncsu
For assistance, write to the Student help desk: classeval@ncsu.edu
For more information about ClassEval:
http://www2/acs.ncsu.edu/UPA/classeval/index.htm
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